Like it or not, the government is becoming increasingly watchful of everyone... even youOne of the running jokes in the 1980s was how the former Soviet Union spied on its private citizens. As comedian Yakov Smirnoff used to joke: "In Soviet Russia, TV watches you!" But here in America, we were all safe from the prying eyes of the government.

Fast forward to 2012, when the
U.S. government actually has the tools and capabilities to spy on all
its citizens. These eyes go well beyond red light cameras. Right now, the government is tracking the movements of private citizens by GPS, reading private citizens' emails, and possibly even reading what you're saying on Facebook.
It does so all in the name of law enforcement and Homeland Security, of
course — but whether or not that makes you feel safer is up to you.

Does a new Utah facility really monitor your emails?1. The NSA is building a massive data center in Utah to read every email you'll ever send.

Many of us are aware that little of what we say on social networks is really private. But you'd think your emails would be safe from
prying eyes — especially those of your government. Not so, once the
government completes work on a top-secret Utah data center reportedly
built to spy on civilian communications.

The $2 billion facility, slated to be complete by September 2013, is allegedly designed to be able to filter through yottabytes (10^24 bytes) of data. Put into perspective, that's greater than the
estimated total of all human knowledge since the dawn of mankind. If
leaked information about the complex is correct, nothing will be safe
from the facility's reach, from cell phone communications to emails to
what you just bought with your credit card. And encryption won't protect
you — one of the facility's priorities is breaking even the most
complex of codes. The good news (if there is any) is that the sheer volume of internet
traffic and emails sent in a single day is far too much to be read by
human eyes. Instead, the government will likely need to rely on
complicated algorithms to assess each transmission and decide if they
represent a security threat. So you're probably out of the government's
earshot here... as long as you watch what you say.

2. The FBI maintains detailed files on numerous public, semi-public, and private figures. Have you ever thought of taking a job with the government? If you value
your privacy, think twice — the government runs incredibly extensive
background searches on its high-profile applicants. What kind of information does the government want from its
applicants? Well, when former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was under
consideration for a job with George H.W. Bush's administration in 1991,
the FBI compiled a massive file on him. Included in that file: the fact that Jobs had a 2.65 GPA, his
history of marijuana and LSD usage, and his tendencies to "distort
reality" and to "twist the truth" in order to achieve his goals. Of course, Jobs is far from the only figure with an FBI file. Other public personalities profiled by the FBI include John Lennon,
Marilyn Monroe, Jimi Hendrix, and even Anna Nicole Smith. If you're
curious about what goods the FBI has on you, you can always submit a request to view your own personal file. It is worth noting, of course, that the
government doesn't profile everyone — just certain people of interest. Is your data out there for the taking?3. Homeland Security is reading your tweets and Facebook status messages.

Unless you play around with your Twitter and Facebook privacy settings, just about anything you say is public. So it might not come as a surprise that the Department of Homeland Security is seeking contractors to build software and hardware capable of reading through what it calls
"publicly available social media." Essentially, the government wants to
read through your tweets and status messages to see if there's any
information that might help in detecting threats. There are some ground rules to the project. The government won't pose
as a Twitter follower and won't accept or send any Facebook friend
requests. Still, even with those restrictions, there's a lot of
information floating out there for the feds to read, even if most of it
is nonsense about Justin Bieber.

4. Your ISP may soon be required to keep files on what sites you visit.

The idea sounds pretty far out there — a law that would require your
internet service provider to keep constant tabs on you, along with
detailed records of what websites you visited and when. But that's
exactly what the Hawaii state legislature proposed this January with H.B. 2288 and companion bill S.B. 2530. The
bill, sponsored by State Rep. John Mizuno (D), "requires internet
service providers... keep consumer records for no less than two years."
The bill then goes on to specify that these records must include "each
subscriber's information and internet destination history information." Thankfully, the bills' sponsors
withdrew the offending legislation from debate. But the reason wasn't
just public outcry. Also a factor was the fact that the U.S. House of
Representatives is considering a similar bill titled Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act.
That bill, sponsored and written by Texas Republican Representative
Lamar Smith, would mandate that commercial ISPs create logs of
customers' names, bank information, and IP addresses. That information
could later be used by attorneys seeking to prosecute in a criminal
trial or even in civil cases and divorce trials.

Not much is private anymore

Between private companies violating your privacy and now the government, is there any way to avoid prying eyes? Not
really, unless you make significant changes in the way you use the web.
So before you send that next tweet or post that next Facebook status
message, think about whether or not you'd be okay with a complete
stranger looking at it — because that's very well what may happen.

Top Opinion

This privacy invasion IS [just wrong] but we live in the so called information age where [ur] business is [mii] business - gone are the days of privacy and what it meant - and here to stay is PC and PF (public forum). Nothing is sacred, personal, OR private.

It is getting worse all the time. Technology is a double edged sword, it can be used for good and it can be used for evil. Smart phones, smart meters, smart TV...don't let the name fool you, they are all dumb things to use as they are recording your private information. It is all about control. Since 911 people have willingly given up their privacy and rights for a false sense of security over a miniscule threat. One is more likely to die by committing suicide or by law enforcement (that's an all too real possibility the way things are going) than by a terrorist attack. We have created a monster with the DHS and the president has effectively given himself dictatorial powers. That is an excellent video you posted below Daniel...I hope it isn't already too late.

People have no idea the freedoms and liberties they have lost. We all have been investigated but are unaware because so much can be done with technology. If people knew what they were doing they would feel very violated.

This privacy invasion IS [just wrong] but we live in the so called information age where [ur] business is [mii] business - gone are the days of privacy and what it meant - and here to stay is PC and PF (public forum). Nothing is sacred, personal, OR private.

Of course it is wrong and they know it and are laughing because the people are so dumbed down they are just allowing them to do it. Hell why not make it easy for the psychopaths? And you pay them to do it to you too!! It would be funny if it wasn't so damned sick!